Small Objects with Outsize Appeal

Artful works by a Viennese master put modernism right at hand

Most Read

In 1926, when Carl Auböck took over the metal workshop his father had founded in Vienna, there was little indication he would become one of the signal forces of modernism in Austria. But the son soon expanded beyond the workshop's small figurines. Werkstätte Carl Auböck's furniture and, most notably, a host of small objects made of horn, leather, wood, cast iron, brushed steel, and especially brass, have been coveted ever since.

This month, the dealer Mondo Cane, in Manhattan's Tribeca, opens an exhibition of more than 200 vintage Auböck pieces, ranging from tables, umbrella stands, and coatracks to corkscrews, bottle stoppers, bookends, and nutcrackers. All display the company's signature mix of strong, almost primitive forms and sensual surfaces. Just try to resist picking them up and caressing them in your hands.